Homeowners look local when they are thinking about selling up

James Trimble

People looking to sell up choose a local estate agent long before they are ready to put their properties on the market new research has revealed.

A survey commissioned by Johnston Press and conducted by SPA Future Thinking has found most vendors shape their views about estate agents over significant periods of time - even when they’re not necessarily looking to sell.

And when it comes to moving and selling their home, vendors, on average, talk to only two estate agents before making a final decision on which to appoint.

The research demonstrated that adverts in local newspapers can directly affect a vendor’s appointment of an estate agent, with 79 per cent of those asked believing it is important for the estate agent they instruct to advertise in their local newspaper.

SPA Future Thinking’s Chris Bland said: “Where and how an estate agent promotes their business plays a crucial part in a homeowner’s decision when it comes to putting their property on the market.

“People form opinions about local estate agents long before they think about selling. For many that could have been through years of looking at the property sections of their local press and shaping their perceptions over time.”

The research is based on almost 600 homeowners, those with property on the market, prospective vendors and those not yet looking to sell.

It revealed:

- 30 per cent of vendors invite only one estate agent to give them a valuation before appointing an agent to manage their property sale, with only 10 per cent of those selling talking to four or more estate agents before appointing one.

- 35 per cent of vendors who don’t read local newspapers already had a view on which agent to use before they entered the property market. The equivalent figure for those who do read local newspapers is 56 per cent.

- 40 per cent of people not yet looking to sell already have a view on which estate agent they will use.

The survey also demonstrated that advertising in the local newspaper drives interest in properties and therefore traffic to digital sources, with 82 per cent of buyers surveyed claiming to have further investigated properties (visited in person, visited the website, discussed with family/friends etc) having seen a local press advert.